TOTAL SYNTHESIS OF SECURININE

Securinine, an alkaloid having strychnine-like action was synthe-sized using 1,4-cyclohexanedione as the starting material through the following sequenceof reactions: condensation with piperidine, reduction, cyclization catalyzed by mercuricacetate and intramolecular condensation, totally in eleven steps. The IR, ¹HNMR andmelting point of the synthetic product is identical with those of natural securinine.